Capitals defeat Predators, 2-1

This game had a completely different tenor than the preseason opener three nights prior. As Coach Bruce Boudreau said afterward: "It felt like a hockey game." There were fewer mistakes, it was more physical and although offensive opportunities weren't especially easy for the Capitals to come by, Washington defeated Nashville, 2-1, to remain perfect in the preseason.

Arguably the most consistent line for the Capitals against the Predators, who dressed a tough lineup and four of their regular defensemen, was the one with a mix of grit and speed: Matt Hendricks, Keith Aucoin and Jay Beagle. In addition to being able to work down low in Nashville's zone during most of their shifts, they were responsible for the game-winning goal as Aucoin set up Beagle for a one-timer in front of a wide-open net to break the 1-1 stalemate.

"I felt really good out there, especially in the first period," Beagle said. "I thought our line worked really well in the corners, especially in that first period. We didn't spend much time in our zone and that's what we wanted to do is create energy and just play down in their end. ... [Early on] we were just kind of missing the net, things just weren't going right, not going our way and our hard work paid off there. Coiner made a great play, and I had a wide-open net."

Said Aucoin: "I told Beags I would set him up tonight and I finally got the puck, some open ice and was able to make the play. [Mike Green] made a nice pass and I saw Beagle open up. He's not going to miss open nets like that -- at least I hope not."

That line was exactly what the Capitals needed as the Predators made a habit out of pinning Washington in its own zone for minutes at a time. In the second period, Nashville dominated puck possession to the point where the Capitals didn't record a single shot on goal until John Erskine's attempt with 8 minutes 47 seconds remaining in the period.

With a 2-1 lead when Grant McNeill and Wade Belak dropped the gloves in the game's second fight (Steve Pinizzotto and Kelsey Wilson were the first) presented him with a short bench, Boudreau made a concerted effort to protect the lead.

"It's the things we didn't do last year in giving up a lot of goals when we had a lead; we'd end up winning whether it'd be a shootout or what have you," Boudreau said. "We wanted to really focus, so I went down to three lines."

Some other notes and quotes:
-- Michal Neuvirth and Dany Sabourin were both solid and faced their fair share of rebound attempts from the Predators crashing the net. There was nothing Neuvirth could really do to stop an almost perfectly placed shot from Matt Halischuk for Nashville's only goal.

-- Marcus Johansson and Cody Eakin both had strong games again. Their speed really can change the possibilities on a shift. "Those guys are going to be great NHL players," Boudreau said. "I don't know if it's going to be right now, but they're going to be great NHL players."

-- Some of you may recall Boudreau saying he would have liked for Hendricks to have been a little more physical after the Columbus game when the forward scored a hat trick. Well, message sent. Other than a bad penalty late in the game, Hendricks pestered the Predators with great success throughout the entire contest.

"He was getting in on the forecheck, he was running through, causing little scrums, being a bit of a rat," Boudreau said. "Those are things that he does, so it was good to see."

So what do people think of BB's quotes. Are they not exactly what the "haters" have been asking for.

Asking them to be more defensive, telling a guy who scored a hat trick in the previous game that he has to be more physical and get in on the forecheck, setting an early tone this season by telling players that protecting 3rd period leads by not allowing any goals is the approach they are taking(i.e. not looking to score more).

sgm3 the haters are gonna hate just for the sake of hating. The Caps will do it, it will happen in their time when everything clicks together. I don't mind waiting, I've been following them for almost 27 years and these last seasons have been some of the best hockey they've played and it's all kinds of fun!

The idea is to have a mix, to have creative players and disruptive players, both. Our bodies work better when they have both a functioning brain and a functioning rear-end, but you wouldn't want to give either up. (The more strident voices in our modern political discourse seem to prove that the brain can, indeed, replicate some of the rear-end's functions; sadly, the reverse can never be made to work.)

Some people seem to think that giving our team a lobotomy - removing players like Sasha - will improve its bowel functioning.

BB's quotes are often interesting in another context: he makes it clear that GMGM calls the lineup and BB disavows any influence on player selection.

While it is only a preseason game, I am glad to see the Caps can play a defensive game against a defense first team and win. However, not happy to hear the Caps were pinned in their own end for the majority of a period. That's a great way for the Caps with their offensive pressure system to lose more games than win. Very glad to see MJ and Eakin have good games, as I still believe that good centers are in the cupboard and a FA center is not necessary as it will be very expensive.

...very well said, ags38...22 years of the same for me...season tickets from '88 until we left the area, every home playoff game during that period...they will do it, probably sooner than later...but, I'm really enjoying the ride...I really get tired of the self-anointed second comings of William Scott Bowman who post here...

I love that from BB. I think people tend to forget that he is still a very young head coach in the NHL. He is a victim of his success in that regard, but shortening the bench with a defensive mentality in mind with the lead in the 3rd is such a great sign.

He could tell Sasha to play better D or play smarter, but if he is going to say it through actions like this, there's a better chance it sinks in with everyone.

Nice job guys - good to see everyone fighting tooth and nail for the opportunity to be on the opening night roster.

Coach...it either DC or Juniors, no hershey this year until his junior team is done with it's season. If he stays with Caps 10 Games, then he can not go back to Juniors and must stay on the CAps roster for the season. He can not play in Hershey at all until Juniors are done under any circumstance. This was done a long time ago and agreed to so the Juniors were not losing all of there players to the Pro Minor leagues. I would like to see him stay for the 10 games and see if he can handle it and if he cant, then he can go back to Juniors and know what he needs to learn to stick next year.

the rule really is to protect the Juniors so those teams dont lose their best players and the teams can stay viable. It makes sense otherwise the teams would lose their best players to places like the ECL, and not have people paying to watch games and then no juniors for the players to develop for the NHL and 16-18 years old.

I just wanted to make a comment about MaJo.I just dont understand why everyone is tryn to look to this kid to be our 2nd line hero.I really think people give false praise to this guy just to gratify the situation of us needing a 2nd center and the caps not goin out and getting a proven nhler.And also that he was a first round draft pick so he must be answer.Well the fact of it all is the kid aint ready and he knows it,BB knows it,and gmgm knows it but doesnt want to face it so he doesnt lokk like a complete tool again.Its just my opinion but also factual that majo wont be our 2nd line star this year and needs to work hard if he wants to be the future.I just havent seen anything in him for the media and others to think that hes the soon to be answer.I truely hope im wrong and he proves to be a great nhl player but i just dont see it.He may have speed but lacks the confidence and skill to be nhl ready.well thats it for me and feel free to rip this apart but it is what it is! GO CAPS!!!

the CBA dictates that junior players either play in the NHL or Juniors, not the AHL, until their season is over. They can play up to 10 games in the NHL before they are stuck in the NHL for the year and that year counts against their entry level contract. Eakin has a 3 year entry deal that will kick in after 10 games as his first year. If he goes to the juniors for the year, his professional NHL level contract does not kick in. If he goes to juniors this year, he can be an AHL-NHL shuttle player next year. This is due to his age at 19.

@grateful, I have seen MJ make good progress so far. I think he can play 3rd line to begin with his speed and forecheck and evolve into 2nd line center. He can switch with other centers between 2nd and 3rd line to see how well he does as the season progresses. The regular season to the trade deadline can serve as a long tryout to see if the Caps need to trade for a vet 2nd/3rd line center to fill a need. MJ can also play in the NHL, AHL, or Sweidish elite league, so again I do not see any reason to rush on a team that did more with less last year in the regular season. And by less, I mean BMo who did not get a contract at all this summer. The guy is done as a 2nd line center. Flash, Eakin, MP and/or MJ is an upgrade imho.

It is interesting everyone always has to state how long they have liked this team. Who really cares as long as they support the Caps. In case anyone cares I have been following the team since I was two years old in 1974. And so what. BTW the Caps still do not have any tough guy dman.

@jimsmallcaps1 - agreed on all points: BMo done (thanks for the service, tho, it wasn't a bad pickup last year). And Flash, MP definitely an upgrade now.

Flash is probably the interim unless someone makes a great offer for him (who will?) and someone else. It does look as though this team only needs a 2C for this year only so we might be able to eat someone's contract for them. Possibly a Jersey-ite.

some of the tea leaves seem to say Eakin will stay up for the 9 games, then go back to Jr. The big thing there is if he's as good as they think he is, they don't burn one of his entry level years. The worst possible move is to keep him up past 9 games, locking him into the Caps for the year, then having to ship him to Hershey NEXT year. (Thus 2 out of 3 entry level years gone.)

I don't know what it takes to qualify as a BB hater. I don't think I'm one of them, but it's true that the unbridled, passionate love I had for the guy after his first regular season has been steadily eroding ever since. To address one person's point about him being a young NHL coach and prone to mistakes... first of all I tend to think a seasoned coach at any high level shouldn't make the sorts of basic mistakes he makes, and second of all even if we accept that young coaches will be prone to mistakes, we at least should expect those mistakes to get incrementally minimized as time goes on. I haven't seen that minimization in games, only in BB quotes after games.

I've been on record saying BB has brought me by far the most entertaining brand of hockey I've ever witnessed from the Caps since I started watching in the late 80s. I appreciate that and I want the same thing this year, and I am willing to give him one more postseason to correct the problems of the past. I don't think that qualifies as BB hate, it qualifies as giving somebody a pretty long leash. If we fail in the postseason due in part to glaring coaching mistakes, I would like to see BB gone from DC. I still won't hate him at that point. I'd love to see him get a job with some other underachieving youthful club. I think he has as great a talent as anybody for getting a group of inexperienced kids to believe in themselves. Problem is, that only takes you so far.

with Maca, Eakin, Steckel rotated in. (In truth, not sure why Steckel helps the team: he's a defensive player who lacks the quickness to defend all that well...but I do believe that BB and GMGM know better than I do on this one, I'm just thinking out loud here)

@RedLitYogi, You are spot on, if we wins somehow the 2nd or 3rd line center outright in 9 games, he stays. If not, he is sent down to the juniors so as not to blow his entry level deal -- it's smart business. For all the grief GMGM gets, he does manage the cap well, i.e not build a one year or bust team.

@pkme, I doubt you will find many people who disagree with the Caps needing 1-2 tough defenders who skate and pass well enough to keep up with the Caps fast tempo. Problem is -- who is available and at what price, right now. This summer, a few were, and I am disappointed that the Caps did not land 1-2.

Obviously, the two contracts of Steckel and Flash compel the Caps to keep them on the roster. One or both would have to be moved for the above. Most likely, A. Gordon and Hendricks are competing with B. Gordon, Bradley, and each other.

It IS highly unlikely Aucoin could be that guy - but if he could, that would be nice indeed.

Having attempted to distance myself from BB hate, I'd like to take a look at his quotes and see if we can translate them. I think this is going to sound like BB hate...

[Boudreau made a concerted effort to protect the lead]... "It's the things we didn't do last year in giving up a lot of goals when we had a lead; we'd end up winning whether it'd be a shootout or what have you."

How does this translate? Is it just Carrera's writing that confuses the issue? If the writing is flawless and presents the correct context, it sounds like BB is saying that he has not made the right coaching decisions to make a concerted effort to protect a lead in the past, but that "it didn't matter because we'd win anyway." "Or what have you." Ha.

"We wanted to really focus, so I went down to three lines."

Traditionally you only go down to 3 lines when you're behind, unless it's the very end of the game in which case you're riding your best defensive lines and combining your best defensive face off man with other lines. Otherwise, you want to use all four lines when you're ahead to keep everybody fresh. The only reason you would drop to three when ahead is if you simply don't trust one of your lines, and it's a little troubling for a coach to say that he doesn't trust one of his lines. It's the coach's job to make all four lines aware of their defensive responsibilities.

Just a few thoughts, nothing damning against BB. For all I know, he was just talking about the last few shifts of the game (and probably was). I guess the only point that I'm making is that I've steadily lost confidence in his coaching abilities over the years, and confusing quotes like these don't help.

I believe in this team, and I believe BB can get this team to the Big Dance with just a tweak or two there in his coaching philosophy. If these quotes represent that tweaks will be coming this season, any BB hate I have acquired over the years will gradually start to fade away...

when I heard that BB comment,I took it to mean that that is something he wants to work on...they would win games in shootouts or overtime and thats not what he wants this season. He didn't want the team to just relax, but to buckle down and play responsibly.

@Capscoach: Yes, I was over-analyzing it. I don't put any stock in the quotes anyway, because we've heard these same quotes before. I'll believe it when I see it!

I think a lot of the blame lies on the players' shoulders for being overconfident and not taking defensive commitment to heart. But when you boil it down it is the coach's responsibility to instill a that commitment in the players' minds. That's why you see coaches get fired all the time not for being bad coaches per se, but simply because they have lost the ability to get through to the players. This is BB's year to get through to the players.

I think that GMGM plays it safe with the roster to start the year. A.Gordon makes the team Eakin back to Jrs MJ MP and the rest of them with Hershey options open go down. But I anticipate a trade of some players during the season before the deadline we have a glut of 3rd line players that can move up for other teams and fetch a good return after teams see what there needs are.

It's hard to draw conclusions from a game I didn't see, so I'm not to worried about them being pinned in their zone. Half these guys aren't going to make the team anyway. If Hendricks is as physical as advertised, I hope he has a real shot to make the team, though I won't hold my breath.

Count me in the not a fan of BB group. He says the right things, but seems to only hold certain players accountable. He has no problem publicly blasting Semin, Erskine, Poti, Varly and even Ovi, but only has excuses for his guys. Like claiming Green had various illnesses/equipment problems during the 2008-2009 playoffs even though most could see that it was the extra 25lbs of lard he was carrying. Even in the Habs series, BB didn't want to address Green/Schultz being on ice for 7 out of 8 Habs goals, but he made sure to let everyone know how pissed he was at Semin for not scoring. It's this kind of favoritism that I think undermines a team. Until he holds everyone to the same standard, I can't believe he's changed.

It's interesting that BB was apparently trying so hard to win a preseason game. Shouldn't the preseason be all about evaluating talent, especially for an established team? Maybe the line that sat out in the 3rd period aren't considered to be true prospects, and maybe he thought that establishing a style of play for the others was more important. Still, it's a bit surprising to me.

"Z" I agree, way to early to be shortening the bench. I do believe this was a problem last year, making all out efforts to win every game instead of putting players in position to learn even at the cost of losing standing points here and there. Playing Green or anyone 28 a minutes a night is not good in the regular season, the mind set should be to get ready for the post season during the regular season.

Just watched the highlights on the Caps site. No real good view of the first goal so can't really say anything about it. The Preds goal was exactally the kind of thing the this team needs to do better if we are going to win. The puck went behind the net and Backstrom was taking the first man and Schultz was on the near side post to prevent and quick wrap. The Preds sent down a second guy from the back side and Green follows him down behind the goal line so now we have both D and our center playing goal line or below. The Preds have a guy set right up in the slot with Knuble standing about two feet away from him not covering anyone. Puck goes along the wall from the guy Backstrom has pinned to the guy Green is following, he put the puck right on the stick of the guy in front and Knuble can't get over fast enough. I am fine with occasionally having the three down low to try and prevent the behind the net play but Green has to be on the man better and the wing, in this case Knuble, has to actually cover the guy in front. It leaves a D open but unless he comes in that is a much less dangerous shot then the slot shot. I was most of those guys first game of the year so hopfully it gets better but if they keep playing like that in the regular season they are going to get beat.

I wonder what the age cutoff is for the "Return to Junior" rule that Eakin is subject to.

I recall that last year, Carlson was sent to Hershey for the start of the season and he's only a year older than Eakin but he has a January 1990 birthday. While Eakin has a late May 1991 birthday. So why could Carlson be sent to Hershey to start the season and why can't Eakin?

Some notes on these stats - Minutes per goals against calculated as Time on ice / goals scored against while on ice - so the higher the number, the better for the player.

There is one game for each of Zdeno Chara and Duncan Keith that I was not able to get any stats for, for some reason the game summaries for a couple of games are not showing right, including the Bruins 4-1 loss to the Caps in February and one of Chicago's games right around that same time. So I assumed that neither player was on the ice for any goals in either of those games, which may skew the numbers a bit in their favor. (I had done Mike Green and Jeff Schultz' numbers a while back when that game summary was available.)

Also, as I manually went through each game report and looked at the players on ice for each goal, I would assume that there is a 5 - 10% error in the data as presented, I am only human.

My conclusion is that Duncan Keith is better defensively on the PK than Mike Green, but worse defensively at Even Strength than Mike Green, and I wonder why we think Green's Defensive zone numbers are suspect when compared to Keith's. Are we as Caps fans much more critical of our defenseman than other teams fans are of their d-men, due to the legacy of great defensemen we have had in the past?

I believe the rule is the player must turn 20 during the year he wishes to play. Carlson may have been under different rules because he played 4 years in juniors which means he would be excluded from the age restriction. Not really sure about that as I did not look it Carlson's age

There is a private agreement in place between the NHL and the CHL that governs when a player coming from the CHL can play in the AHL. A player from the CHL has to either turn 20 by December 31st of the season (ie a player born in 1987 can start playing in the 2007-08 season, a player born in 1988 can start playing in the 2008-09 season etc.) OR have completed 4 seasons of junior eligibility. This agreement also covers European players if they are drafted out of the CHL (Examples would be players like Petr Vrana and Ivan Vishnevskiy). Also - CHL players are eligible to play in the AHL once their junior season is over (either by virtue of their junior team not making the playoffs or being eliminated from the playoffs) even if they don't yet meet the age or eligibility criteria listed above.

College players and European players (provided they are drafted out of Europe--even if they later play in the CHL) are not covered by this agreement. They only have to abide by the AHL's age requirement, which is that a player has to turn 18 by September 15 of any given season to be eligible to play. While you won't see many 18-year olds in the AHL, some European players have played at that age (e.g. Niklas Bergfors)

there is a lot of hate for M. Green. Sometimes he seems to be non-chalant in clearing the defensive and gives the puck away. I don't remember time and circumstance, once he seemed to take his eye off the puck as he was getting ready to pass and fanned on the puck leaving it in the crease for the opponent to score easily. Plays like that one are what drives people crazy about Green. If he cuts those out then he may be a serious contender for the Norris.

Well all of u lacking on BB. Four seasons ago he took over the team when they where on like last place in the ec. after a few rounds. nickie where playing in fourth line with brashear and had only a few mins/game. After he took over the time he gave nick ice time bcs he have a good hockey sense. I could see long way just like BB that nick had the most potential of all centermens on the team, he just needed to play and grow in to that role. And thats what he did with the whole team. From being in last 3 he turned it around to be a playoff team, with exactly the same players as the coach before him. Just that shows he is a sick coach. Its not only the caps fans that shall thank BB and GM for building up one of the best offensive team in nhl's history, nick and all the other players shall thank him for being such a great coach with such a sick hockey sense. That have made some of their careers. They all just have to grown together to be a better playoff team and this will be the year!

sgm3-Clearly, you didn't read my post. I said that BB has no problem publicly humiliating some players while protecting other. If you think his habit of publicly laying blame for losses at the skates of one player while protecting a guy who was out of shape for the playoffs went over well with the team, you obviously have never played a team sport.

Personally, this is my biggest gripe with BB. Publicly throwing a player under the bus is a sign of weakness to me. Give the public a generic, BS answer and handle team business in the locker room.

on the AHL age issue,icehammer97 had a great explanation, but there is one part of the CHL-NHL agreement that applied to Carlson. It depends where you palyed the last season before you were drafted. If you played in Europe as hammer mentioned or the USHL (where Carlson played)the 20 year age requirement does not apply, only if you played in the CHL the year of your draft. That is why Carlson was able to play in Hershey as a 19 year old.

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